The Césars, France's version of the Academy Awards, will take place this Friday night during a live broadcast from the Olympia venue in Paris. Xavier Giannoli's adaptation of Balzac's novel Lost Illusions tops this year's nominations.
The 47th César awards ceremony is due to start at 9pm at the Olympia venue, with director Danièle Thompson as president.
During the ceremony, an honorary César will be awarded to the Australian actress Cate Blanchett by Isabelle Huppert, while a tribute will be paid to the actors who passed away recently, including Jean-Paul Belmondo and Gaspard Ulliel.
Vivez le tapis rouge comme si vous y étiez ✨ vendredi dès 18h30, assistez aux arrivées des Nommés et invités à la 47e Cérémonie des César à l’@OLYMPIAHALL, sur notre page Facebook lors d’un live spécialement réalisé pour vous ! 🎥 #César2022 pic.twitter.com/8cCizPMyZE
— Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. (@Les_Cesar) February 22, 2022
The film Lost Illusions, an adaptation of Balzac's novel by Xavier Giannoli, is the movie with the most nominations. The film, which attracted 850,000 spectators in theatres despite the Covid pandemic, is clearly in the lead, with 15 nominations, notably in the Best Film and Best Director categories.
The lead actor, Benjamin Voisin, is nominated in the Best New Male Actor category, in which he competed last year with François Ozon's Summer of '85.
The rock opera Annette, by Leos Carax, received 11 nominations. American star Adam Driver is up for the César for Best Actor for this film, alongside Benoît Magimel, Vincent Macaigne and Pierre Niney.
Valérie Lemercier's biopic of Céline Dion, Aline, received 10 nominations - including one for Best Actress.
Laure Calamy, who won the title last year, also received a nomination for A Woman of the World.
In addition to the top three films, the Academy members voted for BAC Nord, by Cédric Jimenez, which deals with police abuse in the northern neighbourhoods of Marseille; Happening (L'évènement), by Audrey Diwan, about abortion, which won the Golden Lion in Venice; The Divide (La Fracture), by Catherine Corsini; as well as Onoda, 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, by Arthur Harari.
In 2021, Albert Dupontel's Adieu les Cons won the César for Best Film.
As for the Best Director award, which has only been given once in the history of the Césars to a female director - Tonie Marshall in 2000 for Vénus Beauté - the Academy selected four men and three women to contend for the prize.
Leos Carax, Cédric Jimenez, Xavier Giannoli and Arthur Harari, were nominated. Valérie Lemercier, Audrey Diwan and Julia Ducournau, who won the Palme d'or in Cannes for Titane, round up the Best Director category.
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